George Clooney, a lifelong Democrat and prominent donor to Joe Biden, joined the growing chorus of those calling for the president to step aside for another nominee in this year’s election in a New York Times op-ed on Wednesday.
“The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time,” Clooney said. “None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal‘ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
“We are not going to win in November with this president,” the actor added. “On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate.”
Clooney said that he is among many who hold this belief, including senators, congressional members and governors that he has spoken with privately, since the debate. “Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly,” he noted.
He also cited intense concerns about Biden’s age, highlighting his past experience with the president at other fundraising events over the years, writing, “Is it fair to point these things out? It has to be. This is about age. Nothing more. But also nothing that can be reversed.”
Clooney just recently participated in a fundraiser for the Biden-Harris campaign, using his appearance for a contest of small-dollar voters to win a chance to attend the fundraiser and meet the actor and others. The event raised millions of dollars for the campaign for Biden’s reelection, marking the most successful fundraiser in Democratic Party history.
Now, after what he saw from the president that evening, his debate performance and interviews since, Clooney is calling for Biden to withdraw from the race.
“Top Democrats — Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi — and senators, representatives and other candidates who face losing in November need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside,” Clooney urged.
The actor further listed high-profile Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris, and Governors Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom among those who he could see stepping forward and making the case for the nomination.
“Would it be messy? Yes. Democracy is messy,” Clooney continued. “But would it enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out? It sure would.”
“Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024,” he concluded.
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